Trump rallies for Ashley Hinson in Sioux City as Iowa's Senate race tightens
The president pitched farm aid and his record in a western Iowa hangar. Hinson has broken with him on Russian diesel and beef imports while backing his tariffs.
President Trump held a rally in an airplane hangar in Sioux City on Oct. 22 for Republican Senate nominee Ashley Hinson and governor nominee Zach Lahn, CBS News and Iowa Public Radio reported. Trump called Hinson "all that stands between the people of Iowa and communists controlling the United States Senate," CBS reported, and called her Democratic opponent, state lawmaker Josh Turek, a "woke, far-left radical," according to the Associated Press. "I'm asking you to pretend that I'm running," he told the crowd, the AP reported.
Trump told the crowd "I love farmers" and promoted an $8 billion harvest fuel relief program for diesel costs and $150 million under the Defense Production Act to expand refining, CBS reported. He said oil would get cheaper "when the war in Iran ends." CBS reported that diesel is still above $6 a gallon nationally and that polls show most voters blame the war for higher energy prices.
The AP reported that Hinson has shifted from calling herself Trump's "top ally" to "Iowa's best bipartisan fighter." She has called his plan to increase beef imports "a bad idea" and criticized easing Russia sanctions in exchange for diesel, saying, "I'll be President Trump's ally when it is important for Iowa, but I will push back on him." Iowa Public Radio reported that Hinson backs Trump's tariffs and voted against measures to end U.S. involvement in the Iran war, and that Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks did not attend the rally.
Iowa Public Radio cited a Cook Political Report survey showing Turek ahead of Hinson by 2 points, within the margin of error, and Democrat Rob Sand ahead of Lahn by 11 in the governor's race. Broadcast and cable ad spending in the Senate race has passed $200 million, the AP reported. Breitbart News focused on Turek's statement in an NBC interview that people who entered the country illegally should face "not an immediate deportation," and said he wrongly tied two Republican House members to an immigration bill.
What is established
- The rally was held at the Sioux Gateway Airport hangar on Oct. 22.
- Hinson and Turek are running for the seat Sen. Joni Ernst is leaving.
- Ad spending in the Senate race has passed $200 million, the AP reported.
- Trump is expected back in eastern Iowa on Nov. 1, according to the AP.
What each side says
She will be Trump's ally when it helps Iowa but will push back on him, including on deals with Russia.
The Iran war is driving up energy costs, and farmers at a Democratic news conference called the new aid "too little, too late."
Turek is pretending to be a moderate, the AP reported; Hinson said, "We needed to turn off that spigot of illegal immigration, and we did that."
How it was covered
Left 1 report
Network coverage framed the visit around Republicans struggling on once friendly farm ground and the cost of the Iran war.
Center 2 reports
Wire and Iowa public radio coverage centered on Hinson's balancing act with Trump and on the tightening polls.
Right 1 report
Breitbart News left the rally aside and went after Turek's comments on deportation in an NBC interview.